Adams, who said there were political and economic angles to the issue, said killings being witnessed across the country, as well as agitations by groups such as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Niger Delta Avengers, among others, “have more or less shattered whatever illusions we may retain regarding the Nigeria that we are living in”.
In a lecture he delivered yesterday at the NUJ Ondo State Chapter, Alagbaka in Akure, Adams noted that “While Nigeria would obviously be better off remaining a nation, it is also true that a surgical operation is required to take out the cancer of disintegration currently ravaging the country on every side.”
Lamenting that Nigeria was at a crossroad, he asserted that the nation as presently operated, was not sustainable.
He said: “Nigeria is supposed to be a federal republic but it operates a unitary constitution where the states, like children, simply go to Abuja at the end of every month to collect food.
“In Nigeria, it was the Centre or Federal Government that created the states for political reasons and to achieve what the eminent Igbo scholar, Chinweizu, refers to as Caliphate Colonialism a system whereby some people are born to rule.
“If we have a federal republic that is nothing but a sham, a big fraud, why then are we surprised that a group of Boko Haram members masquerading as herdsmen have been terrorising innocent farmers across the country?
“If, for instance, there is state police, would the herdsmen have found it easy to attack farmers, rape women and slaughter them afterwards, burn down entire villages, and even carry out major robberies on major highways while the security agencies look the other way?
“For how long shall we have Chief Security Officers (governors) of states who do not even have the police under their control? By the way, what manner of security officer does not even have a gun in his possession? Can a person who cannot organise his own security protect others?
“Boko Haram kills 2,500 people annually. In a situation where a group of supposed herdsmen carry sophisticated weapons and wipe out entire communities, the unity of the Nigerian nation is indeed threatened.”
The convener of Oodua Progressive Union, however, advised President Muhammadu Buhari led administration to implement the 2014 National Conference.
He pointed out that the report deals extensively with how to eradicate the herdsmen-farmers’ clashes.
Continuing he said, “Other recommendations of the Confab that require urgent implementation include the introduction of State Police, control of Solid Mineral by states where they are domicile, control of the Supreme Court by States, adoption of the French Presidential system of government, voluntary merger of states that so desire, Creation of Zonal Constitution, creation of more local government by states, and reduction of items on exclusive list.
“Let us go back to what we had in the First Republic, a system whereby the component units of this country would control their own resources and determine how to live their lives and what form of government to operate.
“If we do this, we will have a decisive framework for dealing with issues such as the one addressed in this lecture. Until the report is implemented, we will just be going round in circles and life in Nigeria will continue to be nasty, short and brutish.”
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